On Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:57:26 -0400, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

-snip-

I've never seen a store-bought tomato cage that was worth a damn.

There are some out there- Gardeners.com has some for $12 that look
good enough.
http://www.gardeners.com/Tomato-Supp...efault,pd.html

They stack-- and fold flat to store. But I'd need to spend a few
hundred $$ to use them.

Next year,
make these cylindrical ones out of normal fence wire. These are 5' high.
They've withstood huge winds without a problem. Any negative aspects to
these cages are imaginary. You'll want to cut some arm-size holes for
harvesting, and one near ground level for weeding, although not many weeds
grow once the tomato plant shades the ground underneath.

If you make them out of reinforcing wire you'll have heavy duty cages
with 6" square holes & you'll eliminate the need for stakes. I cut
mine 6' long- so I end up with a 5' tall cylinder just under 2' in
diameter. I cut the bottom horizontal wire so I have 10 6" spikes
that hold it in place.


http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...g?t=1279306361

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...g?t=1279306364

20 minutes later:
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...g?t=1279306368

Mine take a bit longer to fill out.g


I usually prune off most of the tops, unless I don't, in which case I regret
it and do it later than I should.

The only tomatoes that get taller than 4 1/2 feet in my garden are the
Sweet 100s. Their cages have a 30" extension wired on.

Jim